Phonograph-reproducer



a. STROBINO. PHONOGRAPH REPRODUCER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5, I920.

Patented Apr. 12 1921.

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G. STRGBINO.

PHONOGHAPH REPRODUCER. MPLICATION man ma. 5, 1920.

1,374,479, Patented Apr. 12,1921.

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ATTORNEY G. STROBINO.

PHONOGRAPH REPRODUCER. I: APPLICATION FILED MAR. 5, 1920. m3 MAZQ,

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

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Patented A r. 12, 1921.

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UNE'EED STATE-S PATENT OFFICE. 1

GASTON STROBINO, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

PHONOGRAPH-REPRODUCER.

Application filed March 5,

To allwhomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, GAsToN S'rnonnvo, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Phonograph- Reproducers, of which the following is a specification. 3

In the ordinary phonograph machine the membrane or diaphragm is arranged in a suitable mounting and the stylus is'fulcrumedon'the mounting and has one' end in contact with the membrane and'the other end resting on the undulatory surface or groove of the record, the fnlcrumed stylus being held normally in a definite relat1on with reference to the membrane by spr ngs; in other words, the stylus acts on the membrane after the manner of a lever which obtains its purchase or is mounting for the membrane. On account of this effect of a lever which thus char acterizes the stylus it must be positioned with reference to the undulations when opcrating so that they can cause the movement thereof around its fulcrum that produce v1- I There are two genera classes of records used in phono graph machines-those whose grooves have their undulations verti cal, or up and down, and those whose grooves have their undulations lateral,wherefore a machine having a reproducer or reproducing means designed for one class of records cannot be made to reproduce properly from records of the other class.

One of the principal objects of this 1nvention is to provide a reproducer whichwill cooperate with records having either vertical or lateral undulations and faithfully reproduce, sound. To this end the present invention broadly consists in a reproducer for phon'ographs or similar machines embodying certain novel features of constriuation and arrangement of a vibratory membrane member and a free stylus device or foot-piece rigidly secured to and projecting from a vibratory part'of said mem her, in combination with means, mounted on the bed or other fixed support, to hold the reproducer in ope -ative relation to a record to be reproduced when the stylus device is made to rest on the record. By free stylus I exclude Styluses that trans Specification of Letters Patent.

mounted on the i the reprodn'cer.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 363,367.

mit vibrations to the membrane. only by being. fulcrumed or having a purchase on some non-vibratory part, such as the mounting for the membrane. To obtain equally good sound-reproducmg results with the lmproved. mechanism,

' regardless of the class of record with which it is made to cooperate, it is best to employ withthe particular record at any time b eing used the kindof needle that is specially adapted therefor, for instance, the-needle that operates best with the V-shaped lateral groove, or that which operates best with the V-shaped vertical or that which operates best with the U-shaped vertical groove; provision is therefore made in the best form of the invention for interchangeability of needles or stylus points in a novel way herematter to be pomtedout.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the rev producer, showing it in operative position on arecord;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of what is shown in Fig. 1, certain parts appearing in sectf on;

Fig. 3 is a plan; and ifFigs. 4:, 5 and 6 show a modified form of a designates the bed or support of the phonograph machine, in

which is arranged to rotate the suitably driven spindle I) for supporting the platen c on which a record d may be placed.

The membrane member is preferably though not necessarily that shown in the drawings, where e is a hollow body having a' relatively large mouth and formed of thin sheet material, such as parchment, paper or the like, the same being here shown as gen erally truncated-conical with its mouth or larger end elliptical in form and preferably bound or finished with a hoop f of suitable thicker reinforcing material and its smaller end closed; the hoop has a narrow groove 9 into which the edge of the material ofv the body 0 may be fitted and glued. The hoop need not necessarily be continuous; thus in Figs. 4L and 5 it is shown in two parts, the

material 6 being reinforced where the splits in the hoop come by fabric h cemented thereto. The hoop is avibratory part of the membrane member, though it is also a frame or reinforcing and shape-maintaining element for its (also vibratory) [P01431011 e,

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The stylus device as herein illustrated by Way of example is constructed as follows:

ii foil;

to vibrating influence, as by beingconiposecl of brass and having its arms tapering and extending laterally in opposite directions, has means on the ends of said arms, as shoulders j and nuts Z, to clamp the membrane member thereto, the said arms prefec ably penetrating the hoop portion f of the membrane inernbei at points coincident with its greatest diameter; and depending from the fflOliCl} portion of the fork is o, fitting m having a seem n, Wl'ili a nus 0 screwed thereon, to bind said fittingto fihc ifoik. The arms may with advantage be "formed tubular boili to lighten them and increase liie vibratory action tnereoi. There is also a needle or his-point holder 31 roteti've with fairly tight fit on a horizontal axis in the fitting and apertured radially at a plurality of points to receive the needles, g, pariziculerly adapicd different specific forms of grooves, as licrelnbcfore indicated;

1: bolder iseilsoted to be turned to posilion any of the needles in operaiive relation to i'lie record. FL part oi the stylus device ma also be (be coupling piece 8, here shown of still material, secured lo the foil: on the one hand and to the membrane member on l'lic (,ilJi'Mlf in any suitable Way; this element, however, is bul; an accessory to prev-crib dislocaliion oil the ilevicl-i where the former is jointed to the $19,! all the ends of the arms of its fork, c lJllQ bandling incident to Withdrawing replacing the repi'oducer when clung 'ccords or due to the tendency of the l le'vice to run clicad of i'lil membrane l'ill?llll)@l under the lllfillilllfifi, oi the misting *Olil although in it amounts to a e. rd arm 01 'llie lus device rigidly se- 0 a vibratory part oi? the membrane L" means to hold the membrane member t over the record reproduced 'pporied by its stylus device on the miisti'u-z -uwl according lo tl'ie e3 11min 'fi'iilows: in bracket 25 Hi to bed m and providwl will; a ball bran-mg and a centering pin '0 is swiyclecl vertical axis (between the ball-bearing ring pin) an mm m, and. iii this illl'il is ruled, on a borizonial ax the clip a? which may nave any desired form (comm-12in Figs. 1 and i) and is rigidly scl-ured lo the membrane member. This nieces wliilc keeping the, ineinlu'ziue member uprigrliii, allows it in beer iljs own weiglii on tile rolatin record and also to PIOQYI'CSS generally radially the record in response o tlie lend lie grooves oi i, which is preferably though noiv necessarily formed so as go be quite sensitive membrane member and stylus.

:v of the spiral -fm'mation o'lv 3 is a handle for manually shifting ibe repioducer to and from operating posiibion; and 2 a pad on the bed a on which the stylus point may rest when the reproducer is not operatic.

My reproduce! has been used with equally good results Whether the record employed have vertical or lateral groove undulations, especially if tliala'neeclle or stylus point be made to cooperate with the record which is particularly suited to the cross sectional form of the groove which the record presents. Its adaptability to reproduce sound faithfully Whether the record-groove undulatices are verfiical or lateral is fundamentally due to the stylus device not being confined, as in the ordinary reproducei, to a plane of movement around a pivot, and also in llie best form of the invention, to these contributing factors, to Wit: Thai; the membrane member is a hollow body having relatively largemouth and that the stylus device is a slender member attached at one end to the membrane member in the line oi il's greatest circumference and having its other end adapted to rest on the record; that the stylus device is a fork secured as to the arms thereof and only at the ends of said arms to a membrane member in the line of substantially its greatest clrcuniference; and that each fork end of the stylus device ext-ends laterally, so that it is maintained while operating in state of tension incident to the weight of the membrane member. I

Wlien the hoop is split as in Figs l and 5 the sound is amplified, because at "the ore treine of each half of the hoop the vibraiion ill) is greater than if the hoop were incaci; eia' the point of breach.

between shoulders j andmucs Z," ibey ere nos indispensable and may omitted entirely, especially where the hoop is split and can therefore yield (by expanding or contraceing) diametrically to suit the effective span of the fork i in assembling till! membrene member and stylus device.

.lf Here is found to be excessive spring in the structure formed by the membrane member and stylus device (so that in reproducing from lateral. I cut records there will be a too-violent s ringing back of the stylus point following some extreme deflection thereof with perhaps a resulting harshness in the sound produced) shown in Fig. l, may be provided.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

l. in combination., a reororlucer includ inga vibratory membrane and a forked-shaped free stylus device rigidly se cured as to the arms of its fork and only at the extremities of said arms to said membe a brace 2,

in the line of substantially its greatest circumference, and means to support the reproduoer in operative relation to a record.

2. The hereindescribed reproducer membrane member including a membranous body having substantially coincident with its greatest circumference a reinforced edge portion, in combination with a stylus device rigidly secured to said edge portion.

3. The hereindescribed reproducer membrane member including a hollow membranous body formed' with a relatively large mouth and having suhstantially coincident with its greatest circumference a reinforced edge portion, in combination with a stylus.

device rigidly secured to said edge portion. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

. GASTON STROBINO. 

